Are there benefits to feeding canned dog food?

[Bobsk8]

I mix Canned with Stogie's kibble. He enjoy's the mixture WAY MORE than kibble alone. I usually feed kibble only in the morning, then give him a mixture in the evening for dinner. I've tried him on several canned brands, alpo gave him the runs something terrible. Now I've got him on Innova EVO kibble and Innova regular canned, he loves it. Reading this forum is what made me change his food to a premium quality food like Innova. (FYI)

No offense to anyone intended, but I have to say something.
I came here because I wanted (needed) some help with my dog, and I got tired of asking the $6/hr employee's who work at Petsmart for advice. most of whom don't even own pets! (ASK 'EM! YOU'LL SEE)... My experience with online forums has been the people who are regulars on forums, know the subject matter and know it well. In this case PETS. But: For those of us who are not experts in the subject matter (like myself), threads like this one are confusing. Feed canned, its good for them. Don't feed lots of canned, its bad for them. Feed only canned if you can afford it. Feed only kibble its better for them. Mixture is good. Never mix!. Don't change your dogs food, it makes an unhappy dog. Give the dog variety, it makes for a happier dog. Kibble produces less poop. Canned produces less poop. Veggie's are good. Veggie's are POISON! I think you can see what I'm saying here.

I think in the end, do want makes you happy, and makes your dog happy. I guess thats all we can really do?

I do the same thing and mix some canned in with the kibble. My dog loves the mix which is mostly kibble with several tablespoons of canned stirred into it so most of the kibble is moistened by the canned. She eats it like it is 100% canned.

As far as all the "expert opinions", I agree. You have to take alot of them with a grain of salt. I have mentioned some of them to 2 vets I know, and they both just roll their eyes......

 

[Toaster]

I do the same thing and mix some canned in with the kibble. My dog loves the mix which is mostly kibble with several tablespoons of canned stirred into it so most of the kibble is moistened by the canned. She eats it like it is 100% canned.

I wonder if I'm using too much canned for Stogie? I'm using about 4oz of canned with about 4oz of kibble. Too much canned?

As far as all the "expert opinions", I agree. You have to take alot of them with a grain of salt. I have mentioned some of them to 2 vets I know, and they both just roll their eyes......

Funny you mention the vet.... I was there this morning to pickup stogie's heart worm pills... and I asked the nurse what food she liked to feed her dogs, she said purina one. I asked her about Innova, Eagle, Solid Gold, Canidae, Royal Canin, etc... the human grade ingredient foods, and she rolled her eyes at me like I was insane... saying she has no issues with the Purina, her dogs love it, yada yada yada. Now I will say I personally feel Stogie likes eating the Innova more so than the Purina I was feeding before. EVEN WITH THE CANNED.

Just this morning he ate his normal, and wanted more of the innova! That is one thing I'm pretty sure I did right... He absolutely seems to like eating the innova more than the purina he ate before

 

[DanL]

Just remember that most vets, and none of their helpers, have any formal training in dog nutrition unless they have sought it out themselves. They get seminars put on by the pet food companies, then the companies pay them to sell their products. So of course it's going to be slanted to you buying a 30 dollar bag of food from them. A vet tech feeding purina 1 would not be giving me advice on what to feed my dogs.

 

[iheartsammy]

(if your a vet, do you HAVE to sell the food in your clinic? even if you don't think it's whats best?)

 

[juliefurry]

I never ask my vet for nutrition advice just because he ALWAYS reccomends the science diet they sell in their clinic (they have a dog food formula for EVERY problem). When I went to a vet out in Illinois they asked what I feed and I said Innova Evo and the woman couldn't even spell it she asked me "oh is that like a grocery store brand or something?" Then she asked how much I fed and I said "two cups" and she said "oh that's not right a dog her size should be eating probably twice that much."

 

[Mordy]

(if your a vet, do you HAVE to sell the food in your clinic? even if you don't think it's whats best?)

They don't have to, but many do since there's a good profit margin on selling food. On top of that, they need to feed all the animals who have to stay at the vet's office for one reason or another.